Dig Inclusion gets involved in helping people back to work

The Department for Work and Pensions invited Dig Inclusion to run a workshop, aimed at their Work Coaches, so they can better support disabled people find suitable work.

The workshop, run by Dig Inclusions Director Grant Broome looked at the challenges that disabled people face when accessing computers, and the type of software and equipment that they use day to day.

Prior to the workshop, many Work Coaches didn’t have a very clear idea about the scope of things that a person with disabilities is able to do on a computer, some weren’t clear on whether certain types of disabilities can use a computer at all. In order to match people with disabilities with appropriate work, Work Coaches needed to a good understanding of what is possible, and what barriers disabled people might find when looking for work that involved computers.

“The feedback from the workshop was extremely positive” said Fran Knight, Employer Advisor at DWP, “…all of the Coaches felt that they had a much clearer understanding of access to computers. The level of engagement was high and this was a vital step for us towards gaining a better understanding of how we can help remove barriers for disabled people in the digital workspace. I am very grateful for Dig Inclusion’s involvement and we are looking forward to working with them in the future”.

In the UK 46% of working age disabled people are unemployed.

Grant Broome from Dig Inclusion said “This type of workshop can make a tremendous difference to people’s understanding of disability and digital access. We were able to wrap up a wide range of useful content and deliver it within a short space of time. It’s a useful format that we will definitely be deploying on other projects”.

We hope the workshop will support the Work Coaches to not only help those with disabilities get into work but also help them educate employers more on the tools available to support staff.

If you’d like to know more or have an event you’d like us to talk at please get in touch.